278 CLIMBING IN ENGLAND 



attack, of varying the execution of them according to 

 their own judgment, and finally of meeting obstacles, 

 as they arise, with their own skill and by their own 

 strength, and overcoming them without the aid of a 

 hired professional." The peculiar charm of these 

 mountains, to the initiated, consists in the cracks, or 

 " chimneys," which seam the precipices from top to 

 bottom. Sometimes these are damp with trickling 

 water, and Nature has thoughtfully lined them with 

 moss. Too often they are only hard and angular 

 crevices, like three sides of a chimney-top. Up these 

 the climber wriggles, like an eel in a pipe. In reading 

 the records of their ascent, one is tempted to muse on 

 the relative nature of pleasure. It is not long since 

 master-sweeps were sent to prison for sending their 

 apprentice boys up real chimneys, not nearly so high, 

 nor so dangerous, as those of Moss Gill. It was in the 

 interest of these human victims that a philanthropist 

 made the happy suggestion that a live goose pulled up 

 the flue with a string would do just as well, or, if not, 

 that a couple of ducks would answer the purpose. Now, 

 amateurs in climbing go to Cumberland to experience 

 the sensations which must have been part of the every- 

 day lot of the chimney boy, and record their enjoyment 

 in print. The high spirits and serious fun which 

 underlie these accounts speak volumes for the benefits 

 of mountain air. Winter climbing adds the pleasures 

 of surmounting snow and ice in considerable quantities, 

 in addition to the difficulties of the natural rocks. The 

 " Lakes " have now a winter season, entirely devoted to 



